Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula said that he was concerned that the pace of driver’s licence renewals remained sluggish across the country.
March 31st marked the final day of the grace period for the renewal of licences that expired at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, between 26 March 2020 and 21 August 2021.
But officials have decided to extend the deadline to 15 April.
The number of driving licence cards, for which renewal applications have yet to be made, currently stands at over a million, a reduction from more than 2.8 million.
Mbalula said that stats showed that only 49% of the affected motorists had applied for the renewal of their expired driving licences.
“In the Western Cape, out of the 430,507 expired licences, 218,286 driving licences have been renewed, representing 54.1% renewal,” Mbalula said.
Gauteng has also just reached the halfway mark.
“In Gauteng, out of 989,058 expired licences, 520,041 driving licences have been renewed, representing 50.8% renewal,” the minister said.
Mbalula said that MECs had agreed to extend the operating hours of driver’s licence testing centres in the various provinces and they would also be open over weekends.
-EWN
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